People gather at the wreckage of a Air Bagan Fokker-100 passenger jet that crashed in Heho Photo: Reuters

A tourist packed airliner crash-landed Tuesday on a road in central Myanmar, killing at least two people and injuring 11, officials said.

Reports indicated that four foreigners were among the injured on the Air Bagan flight, while the Information Ministry, as cited by the Associated Press, initially identified the fatalities as three Myanmar citizens.

The AP reported that a tour guide and an 11-year-old child on board the plane, and a man riding a motorcycle on the road, were killed where the plane came down.

The flight, which was carrying 71 passengers, including 48 foreigners, was en route from the city of Mandalay to Heho airport in Shan State, Air Bagan said in a statement obtained by the AP on Tuesday evening.

The airline identified the injured tourists as two Americans, a French national and a Taiwanese.

While the crash-landing was initially described as an "emergency landing," Air Bagan later said that "the plane hit electrical cables about a mile (1.6 kilometers) from Heho airport as it descended and landed in rice fields."

The airline later added that the plane burst into flames two minutes after the passengers were safely evacuated by the crew.

Separate reports cited by the AP indicated that the pilot mistook the road for a runway due to bad weather.

"While descending, the plane mistakenly landed ... due to fog beside the runway," state television reported. It said the aircraft made a hard landing on a road and then came to a stop in a nearby rice paddy field.

"The rear end of the plane broke and caught fire," state TV said, carrying a statement posted on Deputy Information Minister Ye Htut's Facebook page. Rescuers brought the fire under control about 45 minutes later, he said.

Residents who witnessed the crash landing told reporters that smoke filled the plane when it hit the ground and was still rising from the plane's badly charred wreckage hours later.